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Sermon
Richard A. Jensen
Our minds remember the strangest things. Back when I was a freshman in college we all had to give speeches in English class. Henry gave a speech that I remember to this day. The thrust of his brief speech was to refute the old adage that, "Practice makes perfect." Henry’s point was that practice only makes perfect that which you practice. In other words you may practice something, say a piece of m...
Sermon
Mike Ripski
A troubled 19-year old, estranged from family and having bounced around for years in foster homes and group homes, dumped by a girlfriend, and a day earlier having been fired from his job, goes into Omaha’s Westroads Mall with an assault rifle and guns down holiday shoppers and employees. Then kills himself. In a suicide note he writes that he will no longer be a burden to anyone. And that he wou...
Sermon
Lee Griess
Every once in a while a whimsical story makes the news. A couple of years ago, the Associated Press carried a story about a woman in Olney, England, named Dawn Gallyot who defied snow and a biting wind to beat seven other women to the finish line in the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race. In her first race, the 38-year-old schoolteacher made the 415-yard dash from a pub in the market square to the...
4. Beware Of Your Piety
Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24
Sermon
Harry N. Huxhold
Whatever happened to Lent? It has been some time now since church attendance was swollen during this season. Congregations also conducted weekday services that were well attended. Lenten reading was popular, and people talked a great deal about their Lenten fasting. "What did you give up for Lent?" was a common question. Very often that was done with little thought. In the Chicago area in t...
5. The Assumption Of Discipline
Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24
Sermon
John N. Brittain
You don't need to be told that we live in a superficial society. We (at least men) surf the channels on the television, catching a glimpse of multiple shows without really watching any one in depth. Increasing numbers of us are doing the same with the internet, confusing access to multiple sources of information for comprehension of it. We are obsessed with physical appearance, creating a massive ...
6. An Our Good Works And Generosity
Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
Jesus was giving his famous Sermon on the Mount. In the middle of it he looked at the disciples from his sitting position (as was customary for Jewish rabbis of the first century when they were teaching). And Jesus said: "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 6:1)." To whom was Jesus refer...
Sermon
Robert Leslie Holmes
For Christians around the world, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It was the practice among early Roman Christians for penitents to begin their period of public penance on the first day of Lent. They were sprinkled with ashes, dressed in sackcloth, and obliged to remain away from fellowship with other people until they reconciled with fellow Christians on Maundy Thursday, the day before Goo...
8. Actors
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
John Jamison
Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets.... We can almost see the people in the crowd leaning forward as they try to hear these things Jesus was saying that afternoon on the hillside. He had been talking for a while now, and although he started out talking about things that were theological, he was now getting to things that...
9. Hypocrites
Matthew 6:1-4
Sermon
Brett Blair
It is difficult to find anyone who has a kind word to say about hypocrites. Nobody likes a hypocrite; no one wants to be around one; the last thing one would want to be called is a hypocrite. Hypocrites are, by definition, deceptive, two-faced and treacherous. If discovered, hypocritical politicians are defeated at the polls, hypocritical friends get dropped and hypocritical preachers lose the tru...
10. Scenes From a Marriage
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
Craig Erickson
How incongruous to talk about marriage on this solemn Day of Ashes. Marriage evokes images of life and joy and growth, perhaps even of youthful, starry-eyed wonder. But this is a day about dying. It’s a day of sober realism and human limitations. It’s a day that begins a season of denial, of fasting, and repentance. How incongruous to bring up marriage on this day. But then, every marriage has it...
11. The Piety That Isn't
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
Carl Jech
Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen ... (Matthew 6:1a) The well-known San Francisco newspaper columnist, Herb Caen, recently made a provocative observation when he wrote: "The miracle of Christmas is that it survives those who believe in it too loudly." The Christmas/Epiphany season is now over, and it might be good for us to ponder the significance of Mr. Caen's observ...
12. Scamming God
Matthew 6:1-4
Sermon
King Duncan
An Italian newspaper recently carried a story about a young couple in Milan who seemed particularly devoted in their worship. The priest at a cathedral there reported that the pair spent an hour or more on a regular basis sitting before a statue of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, he assumed they were praying. Turns out, this young couple was recharging their cell phone. They had noticed a stray elect...
Sermon
King Duncan
Do you recall Ash Wednesday, 2018? Ironically, last year Ash Wednesday fell on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. I said at the time that it seemed to be a strange juxtaposition--Valentine’s and Ash Wednesday. But Valentine’s Day 2018 was different for another reason. It was the day when a shooting took place at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen students and staff wer...
14. Pretenders
Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:1-4
Sermon
King Duncan
A little boy had just returned home from an Ash Wednesday church service. The little girl from next door asked him what the smudge was on his forehead. He replied, "It's Ash Wednesday." "What's Ash Wednesday?" she asked. "Oh," he replied, "It's when Christians begin their diet." Ash Wednesday is about more than giving up chocolate for Lent. It is about examining ourselves in the light of Christ's...
15. The Problem with "Fawneys"
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Sermon
King Duncan
Webb Garrison tells us about a common ruse among con artists in Ireland many years ago. These con artists would place a ring which looked expensive, but was in effect virtually worthless, in a public place where someone was sure to find it. This ring in the Irish dialect was called a “fawney.” Sure enough, sooner or later someone would come along and discover the ring thinking they had found some...
16. For the Glow of It
Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18
Sermon
David & Marian Plant
Our Ash Wednesday service is full of rich symbols. With the Imposition of Ashes and the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we are reminded that our faith, our church, and our worship life, has much outward symbolism. The scripture for our time together this Ash Wednesday is one of those passages that seems to go against the very fabric of our tradition as we understand it. We might be tempted at first ...
17. The Hard Sell
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
Donald Charles Lacy
Our blessed Lord presses the issue. Do you or do you not want to be my disciple? If you do not, then it is with great sadness that your Savior must move on with those who are willing to fully commit themselves. In our lives, each and every one of us receives Christ’s invitation of discipline and abandonment of the world. No longer are we getting acquainted. We are being asked to come into a relat...
Sermon
David O. Bales
Two mornings a week I drive from Ontario, Oregon, to Caldwell, Idaho, to teach at College of Idaho. When gas prices shot up I got into the habit of driving slowly and increasing my miles per gallon. Driving slowly isn’t a hazard while in the country between the two towns. However, when I draw near Caldwell, the signs reduce speed to 65. There, in order to stay up with the larger flow of traffic, I...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Several years ago there was a huge literary uproar over A Million Little Pieces (New York: Anchor Books, 2004), the so-called "memoir" by writer James Frey concerning his supposed criminal career and bizarre misadventures. With a push from Oprah Winfrey (who has become an incredibly powerful force in American book publishing with her Oprah's Book Club), the book sold more than three and a half mil...
20. Dust in the Wind
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
Timothy Cargal
Sometimes a song gets so deep inside your head that it can never be uprooted. Maybe it is the melody or the mood evoked by its musical qualities. Maybe it is the themes and ideas that find expression in its lyrics. If it happens to be both the music and the lyrics perfectly matched to each other, then the effect is particularly strong. Such songs have the ability to become a recurring soundtrack t...
21. The Call of the Trumpet
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
George Bass
"Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast ..." (Joel 2:15) As they do on Easter morning to announce the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a few trumpets blow at the beginning of Lent to call the people of God together for the annual forty-day fast. Lent is that peculiar period of the year when those who are most dedicated to the faith observe the rigors - public and private - associated with this sa...
Sermon
Robert Noblett
Some words fall into the mud puddle, are never cleaned off, and become permanently tarnished by the mud that was never removed. Piety is such a word. Think about the way you have heard it used. Usually it has a pejorative taint to it. Bishop Spong of the Episcopal Church has certainly caught religious people's attention. The bishop was interviewed recently and spoke of how he didn't much like rel...
23. A Thousand Years Of Ashes
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
King Duncan
When Pastor Derek Rust of Lakeville, Minnesota, preached a sermon series on the Ten Commandments, he decided to provide his congregation with a pro-active way to live out the lessons. For the eighth commandment—“Thou shalt not steal”—Rust placed large bins throughout the church and encouraged parishioners to drop off any items that they had stolen over the years. Rust was inspired by the example o...
Sermon
David T. Ball
Whenever I happen to be in a conversation with someone about why they don't go to church, it seems like the reason that they almost always give is that they can't stand all the hypocrites. I don't take this personally -- they aren't saying that all churchgoers are hypocrites -- just that there are usually too many hypocrites for their liking. I guess their reaction is understandable. Who would wa...
Sermon
James Merritt
There are very few people who never, ever get angry about anything. Even if you are the most mild mannered of mild mannered people, you have a hot-button that if someone just knows where it is and knows how to push it, they can really make your blood boil. What one thing makes you the angriest? Maybe, it is when somebody cuts you off on the freeway. Maybe, it is when your brother or sister borrow...
Showing 1 to 25 of 99 results